


galaxies, geth & the girls i carry in my heart

by absoluteares



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 05:48:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10564878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/absoluteares/pseuds/absoluteares
Summary: Sara shares some personal history in remembrance of Commander Shepard.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in a universe where the original trilogy isn't ignored for convenience. In this, Shepard's fate is known by most, if not all.

**GALAXIES, GETH & THE GIRLS I CARRY IN MY HEART**  
by Sara Ryder, photos by Scott Ryder

Amid the wars and an often fitful search for someplace to call home, I've carried with me exactly one fundamental truth: the very fabric of humanity is forever intertwined with Commander Shepard.

Growing up, Shepard was to my household what I suspect sports were to families on Old Earth. Nobody had greater respect and admiration for the Commander than my parents, and any contrary thought from others risked their heads being bitten off. It was over the top sometimes, but the Commander's legacy was our family's single unbreakable thread in times of hardship and disparity; she was our common ground among our disagreements, our forward sight when looking back seemed easier than fighting for our future; Commander Shepard, with all due respect to those that gave and lost their lives at her side, was my family's only lifeline.

[5 high quality images of the Ryder family at various memorials honoring Commander Shepard. One features Sara looking up at an electric blue and stormy sky.]

I remember learning more about Shepard in school, in training, in archives and the writings on the walls. Her mark is everywhere, as it should be, but... the first time I heard Shepard's name uttered by someone who didn't share my blood was also the first time a girl kissed me.

(There was something monumental about looking someone like Alec Ryder in the eye and saying _her_. I like _her_. Like this sense of vindication for the ancestors I'd never known, but would be nothing without.)

[1 grainy image of Sara reading "Gender, Sexuality & How It Took Humanity Too Long to Grasp Either: The Lethal Cost of Pride" at the breakfast table]

This good friend of mine at the time, her skin and hair as dark as Shepard's, shared extensive knowledge of the Commander's role in ending the merciless struggle between Quarians and the Geth they created. I was still a young explorer, in the universe and in the wakings of my own true self, and so it was all I could do to say, "I hope someone will remember me the way that we remember Shepard."

I, selfishly, humanly, still carry that hope.

But it's not about me.

With my Pathfinder responsibilities resuming on this cataclysmic horizon, I'm humbled by one simple fact: Shepard was just one being, just one fleck of star dust burning fast and bright even when it hurt her so, all in the name of 'we'.

We, as one mass of unquantifiable light, are each other's lifeline.

It's an honor to share something personal on this day of remembrance. It's been ages since Commander Shepard's life was lost and returned to the skies and still her impact is felt by all of us. Great strides were made by her and the incredible team she built, but our journey isn't over.

Today we mourn, we reflect, we celebrate.

Tomorrow, we'll go back to work.


End file.
